The invention resides in an operating mechanism for moving a movable furniture part with respect to a stationary furniture part by means of a drive device which includes a shape memory element in an opening or a closing direction.
DE 601 18 836 T2 discloses an operating mechanism among others for opening a sliding door, including a tape-like shape memory element. To this end, a spur gear is in engagement with a gear rack and with another spur gear. A tape-like shape memory element in the form of a tape extends in an S-loop around the two spur gears with an enveloping angle of, in each case, less than 360°. In a cold state, the tape has the described S-shape. When the tape is heated, the tape curvatures are reversed, that is, the original S-shape is mirror reversed with respect to the longitudinal axis of the S. Subsequently, the spur gears rotate about the respective enveloping angle and in this way, drive the sliding door. The process is reversible.
It is the principal object of the present invention to provide an operating mechanism for opening or closing furniture parts including at least one shape memory element for directly driving or for charging a storage device for operating a drive arrangement.